In Quiegolani Zapotec (QZ), a language spoken by approximately 3,000 people in Oaxaca, Mexico, words contain minimal consonant clusters of two or even three consonants, and most of these clusters show a decreasing scope of sonority. This violates sonority constraints proposed by Greenberg (1978) and further discussed by Bell and Saka (1983). QZ, like most Zapotec languages, has a lenis-fortis distinction among some of its consonants. However, this distinction is less clear in QZ than in other Zapotec languages and carries a lower functional load. After an introduction, this paper discusses the phonemes, consonants, vowels, prosodies, and consonant clusters in QZ. It is suggested that many of the unusual consonant clusters in QZ can be explained by the QZ tendency toward monosyllabic words. This tendency is seen clearly in Spanish loanwords. Typically, only some of the consonants of the unstressed syllables remain. Many words that are polysyllabic in other Zapotec languages have been reduced to one-syllable words in QZ by the same process. (JL)

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